NIGER

Presence in the country:

2016 FACTS:

5

Projects

404 906

Direct beneficiaries

6 071 609

Animals treated

741

Community Animal Health Workers trained

444

Animals distributed to poor households

Niger is a landlocked country located in the heart of the Sahel, two-thirds of which is occupied by the desert and only 12% of the territory allows cultivation of subsistence crops. This makes Niger one of Africa’s leading livestock countries, with an estimated stock of more than 36 million animals (all species combined). Livestock, practiced mainly in the form of agro-sylvo-pastoral production, contributes to 12% of GDP and 35% of agricultural GDP, besides constituting an important source of food for livestock keepers themselves.

Livestock keeping is practiced by nearly 87% of the active population either as a main activity or as a secondary activity after agriculture. It remains largely devoted to specific groups (Peulhs, Touaregs, Toubou, Arabs and Boudoumas) for which livestock represents not only an economic activity but also a way of life, a tradition.

Several studies have shown that in Niger, (agro)pastoralism is the most productive and profitable sub-sector of the agricultural sector. However, livestock keepers are experiencing a number of challenges, including severe land degradation, recurrent droughts and other effects of climate change that put at stake their resilience capacity. Animal healthcare is also often inadequate in the vast countryside.

VSF Belgium is active in the Tillabéry, Dosso, Niamey, Maradi and Zinder regions.

What we do:

Strengthening resilience of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists through promoting access to services (health, feeding), access to market and capacity building;

Africa

Asia

About us

Vétérinaires Sans Frontières International is a network of non-profit organizations working all over the world with hundreds of projects in the field of agriculture and livestock production, animal health and welfare, to support small scale farmers.